The Independent today runs the story of deaf diplomat Jane Cordell’s claim that the FCO unlawfully discriminated against her in refusing to post her to Astana (Kazakhstan) as the cost of the ‘reasonable adjustments’ needed to allow her to work there would not (said the FCO) have been reasonable. And […]
The important Employment Tribunal hearing into a disability discrimination claim made by an FCO employee against the FCO raises all sorts of intriguing dilemmas for public and private sector employers. Such as this one. Suppose an employer (Frank) has a good, motivated and ambitious employee (Sasha) who is disabled (in […]
A new step in the Serbia/Kosovo story: the UN General Assembly has passed a unanimous resolution whose sense is to open ‘dialogue’ between Belgrade and Pristina supported by the European Union. Note that the BBC can not even get the simplest facts right. Its report says that: The European Union […]
Full Disclosure I know many of the people involved in the issues described below and now and then have been privately helping JC formulate her arguments. World Scoop Today I spent some time in an impressive frontier territory, full of exotic geological formations and mysterious goings-on. Namely […]
Remember ADRg Ambassadors, a unique new British mediation and consultancy panel launched earlier this year? We are whirring away to excellent effect. Yesterday we were in Geneva giving a goodly number of international organisations some ‘taster’ training sessions to show the ADRg Ambassadors house-style, with a special focus this time […]
Here is my latest piece at Business and Politics about Tony Blair’s visit to Bosnia in 1997. Scoop! Some never-before revealed detail! Oh, and some thoughts on Emotion in Politics…
The punditry gushes forth re Tony Blair and his memoirs. Here on the Right is Simon Heffer, quiet Ayn Rand fan and very conservative in all respects, liking Mr Blair (whom he knows) but being baffled by the poor writing: It appears to be a book written in tune with […]
Today the latest edition of DIPLOMAT magazine arrived. I opened it to find an article written by me which I could not remember writing(!). So I read it with much enjoyment and appreciation. Check it out. It describes my attempts as an argumentative young diplomat to persuade the Embassy in […]
Working on some slides for a Mediation Technique presentation in Geneva next week. Mediation as a professional discipline has some core assumptions. One of the most noted is the idea that there are three levels in the way people look at disputes, namely PIN: Positions Interests Needs Thus Kosovo. The […]
Christopher Myers, the newly appointed ‘Special Adviser’ to Foreign Secretary William Hague, has resigned amidst a gush of crass innuendo from Guido and others re a possible homosexual relationship between Hague and Myers. Willaim Hague’s statement on the issue has dignity and barely concealed anger – one of the most remarkable (and […]
